The Importance of Baptism

The Holy Father, Benedict XVI, sends his message for Lent 2011 to the Christendom last 04 November 2010. There are three parts in his message, to wit: the importance of the sacrament of baptism, the Word of God, and the traditional acts of fasting, almsgiving and prayer. The flow of his message describes the journey of every Christian, from being born again with water and spirit, nourished with the scripture, and the praxis of the gift of faith.

To my judgment, the focus on baptism is something of valuable importance to expound the topic in order to avoid misconceptions believes by many of our brethren Christians (not Catholics). It is because baptism is considered as the gateway to other sacraments. It means that one cannot proceed and receive other sacraments without being baptized. And the first part of the message for lent by His Holiness can help us enlighten the matter.

The sacrament of baptism indeed gives each recipient new life. By this life, our state from living a natural life is now elevated to the next level. And that is to supernatural life where we become somebody, as special than the rest of natural lives on earth like animals and plants and nonliving things. And why do we receive it after few days or weeks or month right after our birth?

First, baptism shows us that this new life is a gift from God. It is only God that can give us this supernatural and elevated life. Second, in baptism, the recipient becomes sharer in the death and resurrection of Jesus. When we receive it, we let go of our state of sinfulness by dying and by rising to a new state of life with Him. Third, in baptism we meet the Lord. It is a personal and a holy encounter with Him. What a privilege! And lastly, baptism imparts divine life. In sharing our own life with God through sanctifying grace and genuine prayer, we do not journey on earth on our own. We are not alone in struggling our own sinfulness and limitation. He will help us bear our problems and struggles.

Becoming part of the Lord’s community by being baptized is a great act of love on our part to God. The community is the venue where we develop our identity as Christians and where we receive Jesus concretely in the breaking of the bread. Our parents’ choice of having us baptized is the best choice they have made for our salvation. So, why we deprive of ourselves of this gift of baptism until when we get adult?

Confucius on Education

When one speaks of civilization of China, the name Confucius is one of the most outstanding figures in their national history. His influence is wide disseminated in the minds of every Chinese people. The utmost significance to him before one engaging in those related discipline is learning or education. What makes education important as a requisite towards becoming a better person in the society?

Psychological Dimension of Education

Education, for Confucius, is vital in the development of the human person. Why did he say that? It is because human nature itself is neutral. What does it mean by ‘neutral?’ It is neutral in the sense that human nature from its birth is harmonious. Confucius says that men, by nature, are close to one another, and that only when men are engaging in practice, they drift far apart. The harmony of men is destroyed when one engages in the activity of the world. And since practice separate them from each other, only the help of environment and of education can straighten up their human development.

Instructional contents of Education

The instructional content of education for Confucius is liberal art. There is an instance when a certain fellow approaches Master Confucius asking for a sort of demonstration on planting vegetables, and the latter has made his reply the he is not good in that matter. Education for intellectual purpose is an indication that the learner has a higher aspiration in life. And he urges students to learn instead rituals, poetry and music. His education is neither for practical nor for scientific purposes. (The last part of his article has little comment on this: China would not be a developed country when they stick to Confucius’ aim of education solely for intellectual purpose.)

Education for Moral Development

For Confucius, education is not only the development of one’s self alone. The goal of education is not for self-aggrandizement. A person by his nature in its birth is neutral – in harmony with other persons. This is the theory on why he put up a private school for every one – elite or commoner. In order to achieve this, education is also for one’s moral growth. He instructs the importance of moral conduct, wholehearted sincerity, and truthfulness. This means that the education espoused by Confucius has two directions – not only for individual development but also for relational development too. The learner has to equip himself with moral values in order to establish the primal origin of human nature - close relationship with one another.

Goal

We learn simple thoughts from Confucius that education is very important for human beings living in the society. Indeed the society is bombarded with different ideas that may hamper closeness among us. But having acquired and chose the right idea by going to school does not mean that each learner has already achieved what is natural, and eventually closeness may just happen. Aptitude does not guarantee this. The role of moral values is the final topping of intellectual education to make the society a better place to live – free from isolationism and individualism.

Remarks on the Natal Day of Mary

This is my closing remarks last 08 of September, on the occasion of the birthday of Mary, our Spiritual Mother.

"Do what he tells you." These are the words of the mother of our Lord to the wedding attendants at Cana. The consequence of their action was the first miracle done by Jesus - turning the ordinary water into the best wine.

The point of this closing remarks is not on the miracle per se, nor on the consequence of obeying our Lord that yields endless miracles. The real point here is discipleship of every followers of Christ.

The reason why we believe in her is because of two things: our belief that Mary is the most powerful advocate or intercessor in heaven, and secondly is our belief that when we pray to her, she will not abandon us but she will help us to accomplish our mission in fulfilling her son's commands for us.

Mary, intercede for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Theology for Personal Purposes

If in studying philosophy one cannot make money out of it, it is not in the case of theology. Many religious leaders in the Christian world have become rich because of theology.

Theology is the study about God, coupled with the divine revelation. It is an in-depth inquiry and research on the nature of God and His will for mankind. This discipline is very rich on how God has reached us out first in order to establish relationship with us – his universal salvific will. Since God is the Supreme Being, He knows all human queries. And that is the reason we ascribe to Him with the adjective word ‘omniscient.’

Objectively speaking, the discipline of theology is full of divine truth. It is not mixed with human understanding called syncretism, for God’s thoughts are beyond human understanding, according to one of the wisdom books of the Old Testament. But what makes the claim that ‘one can make money out of theology’ is of human doings.

The topic on tithing is out of the question here, for all members of any religious institutions are obliged to give one-tenth of his earnings for the support of all the expenses and the missionary activities of the Church, and of thanksgiving to God for the blessing we receive every day. But some religious leaders, who are knowledgeable in theologizing, manipulate and use it other than what is essential for religious purposes.

What is this all about? Theology should be in the service of the God and of the Church. But what we see from our religious leaders? They are using theology in the service of their personal gains by accumulating wealth. I remember the words of the executive director of one of the religious institutions in the city that ‘they are making the Church as milking cow!’ He himself, as a Jesuit priest, testifies to this common observation.

I think this is one of the reasons why people nowadays, who are immersed in the very secular world, do not take into hearts the preaching of their pastors. And if they do not give their listening ears to them, it is because they do not see the truth of theology. It just that people want to hear the real theology that brings salvation and not theology that fishes out money from their pocket.

Theology and the Limitless Queries of Human Reason

I met my former classmate a month ago. We had a short and update about personal life. And I was glad to know that he had just finished recently his doctorate in theology. He went to share about the struggles and hardships in doing the defence on his dissertation. But what stocked to my mind after our chat was when he made mentioned this thought ‘I wonder why I studied theology?’

I, too, asked the same question to my own self why I studied and obtained my masters in theology and in philosophy. In short, what are these degrees had to do with my life? My professor in college commented that studying philosophy would not make you financially rich. It is the truth that one cannot make money out of philosophy. (But I do not believe in the case of theology.)

My personal answer to the question in studying philosophy was I love wisdom. I love reading the thoughts of other philosophers. And in the process of understanding their writings, I would be able to reply to my own personal queries about life and the world where I live. But I always put in mind the limitation of human answers to all human queries. And here the role of theology comes in.

I do believe that theology would show me the way to the ultimate answer to our limitless questions. This can only happen when one would not deny the existence of God and his revelation. To the question on why I studied and obtained master in theology, my answer is very simple. Theology is not to put a stop to all limitless queries of human reason, but theology would lead us to limitless answers to human hunger for truth.

The Simple Notes

This article will show a short explanation on the raison de etre of the blog, its content and methodology.

The intention of the blog is for purely personal consumption. All the articles posted here are products of the author’s personal readings in philosophy and theology. They are his SIMPLE NOTES. The author is not an expert but rather licensed to teach on these two fields. He finished his undergraduate and master in philosophy, and another master in theology.

The author wishes not to waste his time and energy in doing his personal readings on those fields. Since this site is free, he preserves his understanding by keeping all readings in one single file, instead of keeping them in his personal computer. Wherever the author goes, he may have access over them anytime and post other new articles too.

How do these published articles appear? They are written in condensed form, and structured how the author understood the flow of their ideas either in inductive or deductive way. The author himself is not an expert on those disciplines. Instead the author is trying his best to summarize the thoughts of the philosophers and theologians in fragments. It is not scholarly done but the essential thoughts are there.

At the end of each article is the acknowledgement of the source where it is taken, to give justice to the original writers of those topics. No footnotes and bibliography are used, because they are too short. A maximum of one page – letter-standard size – is the size of the content. To reiterate, this blog is for the consumption of the author when he needs them in the future. But the author is willing to share it to any reader who happens to surf this site if he finds them helpful.

What’s on your mind?

The title above is taken from FACEBOOK, a common social networking site today. It has been loved and patronage by many people around the globe. That title is displayed on the homepage of site where one has all the chances to shout at the top of their lungs what they want to say to the world. It is a new phenomenon.

Some may say, and I am not exempted from being one, people who are fond of writing on the space of What’s on your mind are being unnoticed (ta pidi attencion). But that is not all the case. In reading Emmanuel Levinas’ ethics, the face of others tells something about our human existence. Two things I would like to point here. First, a person is a reflection of our own self. He may have come from a distinct family upbringing but how we understand him is not far from what we are. Second, the person whom we have spent a lot of time, though it is not limited to friendship and lovers, is calling the significant other of being heard. This reminds us of our duty in Kantian sense to fulfill for the sake of the good and well-being of the significant other – our ones a fellow member of the community – in this case, the Pastor Bonus Seminary.

In line of this thought, this site will serve as freedom wall where each one can express one’s opinions, ideas and perspectives in life, for we are all graduates of philosophy, which is the unending search of meanings in life. Each contribution will manifest what’s in our mind, and it will be treated with utmost respect, understanding, and most of all, acceptance where each one is remembered in history as brothers. From this I do believe unsolicited but authentic assistance and wisdom will pour down the way.